Kalaheo Is First OIA Crew To Take State Paddling Title
By Jack Danilewicz
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On the eve of what would become his team’s finest hour, there was finally nothing left for Kalaheo paddling coach Julian Wicker and the Mustangs to do but eat.
After all, he had already said everything that had to be said.
“The night before the race, we took them all to Round Table Pizza,” said Wicker, who coached Kalaheo to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association boys state canoe paddling championship Feb. 29 - the first-ever paddling title for an OIA school.
“I just wanted to calm them down, have them relax and eat a lot of food. That was the key - to get them mentally prepared.You can become too focused on it (winning). It’s just a race. You have to just let them do what they know how to do.”
There can be no argument with the results. If they relaxed the night before, the Mustangs were nothing less than assertive the next day, when they began their ascent in the preliminary race at Keehi Lagoon.
Not surprisingly, they’ve been in celebration-mode ever since with good reason. The ILH had produced the boys state paddling champion in all six of the previous events and has won all seven of the girls paddling titles to date.
A quick glance at Kalaheo’s resume, and their break-through performance would seem less surprising. The bulk of the roster had competed on its undefeated JV team in 2006 with Wicker coaching. But there was no direct line to winning a state title this year, to hear their coach tell it. In fact, Kalaheo was not even rated first within its own OIA format, having placed second to Anuenue during the league’s series of one-mile races in previous weeks.
Ironically, placing second in the OIA may have aided Kalaheo in its preparation throughout the season, ensuring that they wouldn’t become too sure of themselves.
“We definitely had something to push and work for the entire year,” said Wicker, who spent two years as Kalaheo’s JV coach before moving up to varsity this season. “Finishing second kind of humbled them this year. They were getting upset and chippy with each other (in the days leading up to the state championships), but we peaked at the right moment.”
They began their monumental day by winning their preliminary heat in 3:37.78. That would prove big in the end for the Mustangs, who in turn received a bye in the quarterfinal heats. The crew was able to rest for two-and-a-half hours, and Wicker switched two paddlers into the six-man crew for their semifinal heat.
“That showed us that this was possible.The guys were fresh. It was as if we hadn’t raced (in the preliminaries) earlier.”
Competing for Kalaheo in the championship race were Alika Guillaume, Lopaka Oliva-Ancog, Shawn Reed, Larry Soto, Nick Seeger and Kao Malama-Custer. The same six had paddled in the preliminary heat, while Wicker went with Guillaume, Tallii Monmaney, Soto, Reed, Travis Wilhoite and Malama-Custer in the semifinal.
Kalaheo covered the half-mile course in 3 minutes, 43.21 seconds to win the championship race. For the senior paddlers, it was especially sweet, given their success at the JV level.
“Back when we (the JV) went undefeated in 2006, we used to talk about how we had two more years (to win a state title), but I didn’t think it would actually happen,” admitted Wicker, whose coaching staff also includes Jordan Wong and Kekama Akana.
“Even though we had the same corps of kids and we had an incredible amount of talent, it was a real big surprise. It began to sink in over last weekend.”
For all their preparation - the team practiced two hours a day, three times a week at Kailua Beach Park - Wicker cited their overall closeness as a contributing factor to their success.
“The blend is really important, and they worked really well together. They’re all friends outside of paddling. There’s an unspoken thing about them: They didn’t have to say anything (to each other to be understood). They were very easy to coach.”
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